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tv   The Ed Show  MSNBC  July 12, 2012 8:00pm-9:00pm EDT

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it seems like only yesterday when mitt romney was on fox news talking about the political philosophy of responding to attacks. >> i, of course, respond to the attacks. but they say in politics if you're responding you're losing. >> romney and his campaign had a lot of responding too today. "the boston globe" expanded on the recording, only to find out that mitt romney was the top dog at bain capital three years after he said he left. according to the report, a massachusetts financial disclosure form romney filed in 2003 clearly stated he owned 100% of bain capital in 2002. and his state financial disclosures indicate he earned $200,000 as a bain executive in 2001 and 2002. the report also drops this bombshell, a romney campaign official who requested anonymity to discuss the sec filings
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acknowledged that they do not square with common sense. until now, romney laz protected himself politically from any bain business practices after he left the company. romney always says that he left the company in 1999, except for this one time. >> i worked at one company, bain, for 25 years, and i left that to go off and help save the olympic games. >> okay. let's see if we can do a little bit of math here tonight on the ed show. mitt romney started in bain in 1977. 25 years later, well, that takes us to 2002. according to mitt romney and his camp, the candidate didn't make any decisions for bain after 1999. he only benefitted financially from them. well, his campaign spokeswoman, ann degree yaw sall released this statement today. governor romney left bain capital in february of 1999 to run the olympics and had no input on investments or management of the companies after that point.
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another campaign aide told politico romney wasn't involved in any investment decisions. he was on the sec filings because he was still technically the owner, but just hadn't transferred owner ship to the other partners. well, history paints a very different picture. david corn of mother jones uncovered a february 1999 "boston herald" report about romney leaving for olympics. romney said he will stay on as part-timer with bain, providing input on investment and key personnel decisions. well, in july of 1999, romney was identified as the boss in a bain press release about the departure of two executives. bain capital ceow. -- willard, that means. mitt romney currently on part-time leave of absence to head the salt lake city olympic committee for the 2002 games. while we will miss jeff and
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mark, we wish them well. well, romney was on part-time leave for three years. all the while he collected a paycheck and benefitted from the company's investments. today bain capital is now in the mix. they explained this three-year gap. why are they in the news all the sudden? they said due to the sudden nature of his departure, he remained the sole stockholder for a time while formal owner ship was being documented and transferred to the group of partners who took over management of the number in 1999. bain does not explain why it took three years to transfer management. for three years mitt romney was legally liable as the ceo of bain capital. obama campaign staffers held a conference call with reporters to underscore the seriousness of this discrepancy. >> either mitt romney, through his own words and his own signature was misrepresenting his position at bain to the sec,
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which is a felon -- or he was misrepresenting his position at bain to the american people to avoid responsibility for some of the consequences of his investments. and if that's the case, if he was lying to the american people, then that's a real character and trust issue that the american people need to take seriously. senate majority leader harry reid also brought up the trust issue when asked about mitt romney today. >> he not only couldn't be confirmed as a cabinet secretary, he couldn't be confirmed as dogcatcher. a dogcatcher at least fills out his income returns. and the long report we have in "the boston globe" today indicates as one of his own employees said, it doesn't make sense. >> obama adviser david axelrod retweeted an article from business insider entitled sorry mitt romney. you can't be chairman, ceo of a
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company and not be responsible for what it does. most people understand the buck stops with the boss. does it at your place? but it never seems to stop with mitt romney, does it? today the romney campaign kicked off an advertising glitch calling president obama a liar for the attacks on romney's time at bain capital. >> when a president doesn't tell the truth, how can we trust him to lead? the obama outsourcing attacks. misleading, unfair, and untrue. >> they are using a rogue tactic there, and they are attacking where they are weak. but it was romney who is not being honest about his bain career. mitt romney made a lot of money being in charge of a company and claiming that he has no responsible at the same time. most people have responsibilities when they sign their names onto things like employment documents. this is the latest secret mitt romney hasn't fully explained. he won't explain his offshore finances. he won't release more than one
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tax return. he claims -- in all of his claims, actually, about his business contradict his legal filings with the security exchange commission. the rules that apply to, say you and me, they don't seem to apply to mitt romney whatsoever, do they? it's an issue of trust and it's an issue of character. you be the judge. i want to know what you think. tonight's question. would you ever hire someone who lied on their resumé? text "a" for yes. text "b" for no. you can go to the blog at ed.msnbc.com. i'm joined tonight by benji sarlin, political reporter for talking points memo. benji, good to have you with us tonight. great reporting. let's cut right to it. did mitt romney have any involvement in bain capital between 1999 and 2002? >> well, depends on what you call involvement. he was certainly involved in the sense that if you look at dozens
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of sec filings he's listed as the sole stockholder, as the chairman of the board, as the ceo. his principle documentation is listed as a managing director of the company. in the sense of a day-to-day role, there's not a lot of information. it's pretty vague. but it's really a question of what you consider responsibility here. if the company that you are sole owner of and nothing is preventing you from checking in on or watching from a public distance or visiting your old partners, if nothing is preventing you from checking in on it, are you accountable for their decisions? the obama campaign says yes, regardless of the day-to-day role. the obama campaign is saying yes because he would be legally liable, would he not, as the head of the company if they were to have legal issues whatsoever. his name is on the the paper. he's on the payroll. he's taking profits from the company. how can he not be connected
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legally? >> well, that's certainly what they're saying to the sec in all those files. romney is the owner. romney is the ceo. romney is the chairman. >> so their argument at bain is he was out doing the olympic thing. in fact, he was probably playing a little bit of golf along the way. we didn't have anything to do with the operations. but on the paper he's the man, correct? >> that's pretty much what they're saying, yes. >> great reporting. great to have you with us tonight. thanks so much. let's turn to the national press secretary for the obama campaign, 2012. well, there's a lot for you guys to talk about. you're going right at it. how do you respond to the romney campaign's defense of the candidate today? >> well, you know, mitt romney is holding himself to a double standard because he claims credit for jobs created by the companies that bain acquired. but he won't accept responsibility for transactions that he was involved in for companies that shipped jobs overseas and went bankrupt with
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workers losing their jobs and their pensions and their health care benefits. so he's furiously trying to extract himself from these three years. 1999 through 2001. now he was ceo, chairman of the board, sole owner and sole shareholder. we're supposed to believe that he didn't have any involvement with any of these companies. a new report has emerged tonight in sworn testimony. romney said he left slaik to travel back to massachusetts to appear at board meet gds. so the suggestion that he's legally responsible but not personally responsible simply isn't credible. >> so this is a new piece of information. there's a legal document saying that he left the games and went back to take care of business with ban? >> sworn testimony in 2002. they admit one of the companies that appeared at the board meetings is a company acquired by bain. >> that's clear contradiction of the filings, isn't it?
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>> that's right. the romney campaign wants the president to apologize for stephanie cutter's remarks about mitt romney either being a liar or a potential felon. will there be an apology? >> there won't be. mitt romney has been telling voters since he ran for office in massachusetts that he left bayne in 1999 and the boston globe reported that wasn't true. that was the first response. the second response is informing the report that suddenly there's a new front-runner for the vice president. >> that is being reported that condoleezza rice is on the top of the short list. it seems mitt romney and the romney camp wants this story to go away really fast. will this intensify for mitt romney to be transparent about his finances and release more of his taxes? how does he make this go away? >> well, that's how he could clear up and answer the questions. his own father released 12 years worth of tax returns. we know his tax returns are
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available. he provided john mccain with 23 years worth of returns. >> he won't share those with the american people. >> what about claims that the obama campaign has lied regarding mitt romney's role at bain? >> a couple of things. first of all they relied on the claim that mitt romney left bain in 1999. we now know that's not true. in terms of the outsourcing claims generally, let's look at companies acquired by bain during romney's tenure there. eliminated jobs in california and washington state as it created them in china. stream skber national, took a look at call center sites around the united states, decided not to create american jobs here. they went to india instead. >> so here's the key that i think you want the country to know. mitt romney has been running around the country saying he knows how the economy works.
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he's saying he can manage it a lot better than president obama. he's all about creating job. when he was at the helm of bain capital, and there's discrepancy on whether he was or wasn't, you're saying he was shipping jobs overseas. >> that's correct. the president is fighting to end tax breaks for companies that shift jobs overseas. the tax break he has on the table has incentives for companies to outsource. >> there will be judgment day coming up in november. ben, good to have you with us tonight. thanks so much. remember to answer tonight's question at the bottom of the screen. share your thoughts on twitter and facebook. we always want to know what you think. coming up, mitt romney has an outsourcing problem. today there's another big revelation. we'll bring you the latest with senator sherrod brown from ohio. ?
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did mitt bring his own supporters to an naacp convention yesterday? one prominent african-american romney supporter says yes. and how can anyone defend joe paterno after today's report out of penn state? bill roden of "the new york times" weighs in later. share your thoughts on twitter u. [ morgan ] right now when you use your visa card,
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welcome back to "the ed show." another day, another big story about romney's financial stake in outsourcing american jobs. the latest involves a company which thrived on outsourcing. it's called global tech appliances, and it's based in hong kong. mitt romney invested in two different ways. through is subsidiary of bain capital and through an offshore company. here's the map. from 1998 until 1999 romney's share in global tech ranged from 6% to 10%, according to mother jones. so his money, his investment, was flowing to hong kong company global tech. global tech manufactured household appliances in china. and there's a reason we show american jobs flowing to china. see, the company relied on outsourcing by american companies to fuel its business.
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here's what global tech's ceo said back in 1998. although it appears that customers such as sunbeam are not outsourcing their manufacturing as quickly as we had anticipated, we still believe that the long-term trend toward outsourcing will continue. the company's success relied on american companies' desire to outsource, and mitt romney, well, he was happy to invest his money. bear in mind, this is just a small part of mitt romney's outsourcing and offshoring problem. romney says he will create american jobs. >> if i'm president, job one for me will be creating jobs. let me say that again. my agenda is not to put in place a series of policies that get me a lot of attention and applause. my policy will be, number one, create jobs for the american people. i do not have a hidden agenda. >> but that's now he did it in the private sector.
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senator, good to have you with us tonight. >> good to be here. >> mitt romney's years as a businessman were no stranger to outsourcing. i mean, is this going to be the key for democrats across the country when you start talking about creating jobs, working this angle against him? >> well, i've been working on this for years, and you know, we've got a number of american businesses and large corporations have followed this sort of model, i think, in my mind unbeknownst to human history before this, where they shut down production in cleveland or toledo, and they move it to beijing and sell the products in the united states. i think the american people are waking up to that. they see a presidential candidate that has basically done his job that way. in many ways that's what this olympic story is about with our athletes. the awards were given out for breaking trade laws, china would get the gold medal, and that
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what we're seeing with all the outsourcing and all the trade agreements and all that far too many people, the elite in this country have done to the middle class. it's really an ultimate betrayal of our country and the middle class. >> you think mitt romney betrayed the american economy? >> i think he's part of a group of business people who saw the best way to do business was shut down production here and move it abro abroad, make it there and sell back to the united states. you can avoid labor laws, you can evade environmental and worker safety rules, and the bottom line, gets better. and back to this olympic committee thing, i think, my guess is i don't know the people of the u.s. olympic committee, but my guess is they are a bunch of business people who think nothing of outsourcing because it pads their bolt tom line. why not do it with the olympic committee? >> you're talking about the uniforms for the olympic team. >> yeah, this company in
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cleveland, a company with, i think 300 workers. i've been to this the plant several times. in it's in the brooklyn section of cleveland, old brooklyn. >> why didn't they get them done here? >> i don't know. i think again because the u.s. olympic committee thinks like much of the elite ceos of the big, big companies in this country that outsource. the way they think is move it offshore, pad the bottom line, makes sense to me. >> this has caused quite a stir on the hill, hasn't it? >> it's caused quite a stir. the american people understand this intuitively. when we do stuff like this, it means we lay off teachers in communities where there are plant closings and firefighters. it means families break apart sometimes because everything falls apart for them. it means kids can't go to college. >> well, there's one other subject i want to bring up with you, senator. today senate republicans filibustered a bill giving small businesses a tax break. now you consider all this talk
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from the republican side of the world about how they are for small business and they are the job creators. you can't raise taxes on the small businesses, yet they passed on an opportunity to help small business. did they not? >> well, you know what it is, ed. mitch mcconnell made the statement a number of times that his number one goal for the last two years has been to make sure that barack obama is not reelected. this is part of the game plan today. if we had done this, it might have been a feather in barack obama's cap, so, can't do it. got to filibuster. got to block it. that's the games they're playing. they did it with the highway bill. they did it with the debt ceiling. they're doing it with all kinds of jobs bills. it's outrageous. >> senator, good to have you with us. sherrod brown of ohio on the ed show. thank you so much. mitt romney gets caught in yet another lie. it mean, it just keeps oncoming. see what it is next. and the gop keeps on lying about president obama and taxes. former governor ed rendell, joy reid, and susan delpersio weigh in on the big battle. [ female announcer ] when you're trying to lose weight,
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this is not a syndicated show to tell the truth. but every time we do a story about mitt romney it is. mitt romney has been caught in yet another lie. last night on this program naacp senior vice president for advocacy hillary shelton told me that the romney campaign brought in black conservatives to support romney as he addressed the naacp convention. >> the campaign actually gave me
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a list of african-american vips that they brought into the naacp meeting. they're bringing people in to support his agenda from other places that aren't active with the naacp. these are people brought in to provide for us so there will be some support along those lines. >> the romney campaign denies that claim. yet today one prominent black leader confirmed hillary's assertion. florida unit governor jennifer carol, a republican, attended romney's speech and told msnbc i was invited by governor romney. when asked who paid for the trip, she referred the reporter to the romney campaign. the romney campaign has not responded. meanwhile, at a fund-raiser last night, romney bragged about getting booed by the naacp crowd. if they want more stuff from the government, tell them to go vote for the other guy. more free stuff. but don't forget nothing is
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really free. even if romney had no intention whatsoever of race bading or stirring up the welfare queen stereo type, this is part of a pattern. romney delivered the same message of no free stuff to latino leaders last month, and here's what he told a woman who asked him about access to contraception. >> if you're looking for free stu stuff, vote for the other guy. that's not what i'm about. >> no, mitt romney is about more corporate tax loopholes. more tax breaks for the wealthy. less regulation. you see, in mitt romney's book demanding affordable health care is free loading, demanding more corporate welfare. that's patriotism. let's bring in karen finney, msnbc political analyst. how insulting, or is this insulting, what you just heard from mitt romney? no free stuff. go vote for the other guy.
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>> it's stunningly insulting. it's not just insulting as a person of color or a woman as you pointed out, but it's insulting. i was a middle class kid. my parents worked really hard, and thank god for the benefits of this country and the the middle class dream, they sent their kid to college, and you know, we've all had great lives. and for mitt romney to insult working class people like that, i mean, it makes it all the more clear that going to naacp was about a punch line for a fund-raiser. it was not about building a bridge or reaching out. and it also shows -- they. who are they? that's not america. >> well, he claims that he spoke with black leaders. leaving the impression that they were naacp leaders. only to find out that they were flown in, brought in by the campaign. this is so deceiving. so cunning, isn't it?
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what does it say about his character? >> it's very deceptive. and again, it's a very cynical move, ed. it's the kind of thing, you know, in campaigns people sometimes stack the crowd, right. but in this instance, i mean, to do that -- and then to, you know, brag after the fact about, well i thought i would get booed. and no free stuff. you know, again, it also shows, ed, just such a lack of understanding about what it is to be a low-income person or a middle-income person in the country and the work. i hope independent voters are paying close attention to the language. these guys turn around and try to say that president obama is the most divisive guy. are you kidding me? anybody who is talking about they and free stuff and putting people into different classes clearly doesn't get what america is about. >> vice president joe biden spoke before the naacp convention today and addressed
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the voting rights. >> did you think we would be fighting these battles again? the president and i and eric and all of us, we see a future where the rights are expanded, not diminished. where racial profiling is a thing of the past. where access to the ballot is >> i don't think democrats across the country can talk about this enough, karen. i think it goes beyond whether you're striking the right tones. you have to make sure people are hearing this. >> that's absolutely right. 5 million people are going to be disenfranchised off the top. the numbers are growing as we speak. so you're right. we can't talk about this enough. it's so important that people find out what are the requirements in your state and get out there and make sure you've taken care of it. i thought joe biden knocked it out of the park, by the way. he gave a great speech. testifies personal.
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it was visionary. tell us what's in your heart and share your vision. >> he got booed when he told him he was going to wrap up his speech. >> i love that. i love that. also biden did a great job laying out the obama record. i hope every democrat takes a look at the speech, because that, you know, that was a great speech. >> karen finney, great to have yo with us. thanks so much. lots more coming up in the next half hour of "the ed show". stay tuned. >> this president, his response to everything is we need to raise taxes. >> republicans continue to push the greatest lie ever told. i'll set them straight with the big panel next. "the baltimore sun" has a problem with "the ed show" and independent voters. i'll correct the records tonight. >> the most powerful men failed to take any steps for two years to protect the children and
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those victimized. >> i'll ask how anyone can defend joe paterno after today's shocking report. >> sometimes you have to make tough decisions, and sometimes you have to work around the system. what's in your energy drink? ♪ power surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies and natural green tea energy... new v8 v-fusion plus energy. could've had a v8.
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roundup. no root. no weed. no problem. this president, his response to everything is we need to raise taxesful. >> i mean, this is like an espn moment. come on, man. i mean, the lies from the romney camp just continue. romney's senior adviser, there he is out there again. he wants you to believe that the president of the united states is a classic tax and spend liberal. the facts tell a different story. taxes are at a 30-year low. this chart with figures for the congressional budget office show taxes are lower now than they were under the four previous presidents. ronald reagan, george h. w. bush, bill clinton and george bush. i want you to like us on
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facebook by going to facebook.com/edshow. i'm not picking on you. i'm asking you to do me a favor. send this chart to all your conservative favor out there they says president obama has raised taxes. i give the conservatives credit, because they won't give up on telling this to the american people. they're dogmatic about it. let's bring in former pennsylvania governor and news analyst ed rendell and republican strategist. i wasn't picking on you. you know that. but it is true. why do the republicans keep saying that? >> well, are you saying that facts and politics are supposed to go together. the message that they're using is that when you look at -- and we can get into a big debate about this with the health care ruling. it is deemed a tax. there are issues there. and the solutions which republicans are saying absolutely raising no taxes. and the democrats are saying, well, we're not going to cut spending. well, that's how you get into
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the situations. and frankly, the word compromise has become a dirty word, and we have to go back to something like simpson-boles, and the republicans will use things like all the democrats want to do is tax. and the democrats are going to call republicans evil. >> the problem is first all of, technically, the affordable care act is -- the mandate is, you know, constitutional and the taxing authorities, we could get into a whole argument about that. >> 55% of people do think it's a tax. >> the problem is for the republicans this time in trying to use a tax argument is every poll shows the majority of americans believe with barack obama's prescription on taxes. meaning wealthier americans should pay more. they've already lost the tax argument. so trying to go back to the '90s, '80s strategy of tax and spend liberals isn't going to work because that's not where americans are now. >> i'm not so sure she's right. i think because they lie consistently and say it over and over again, i think it has a tendency to take hold. susan didn't lie. she did an artful job of
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answering your question. but she forgot to mention that the supreme court tax said was a tax affects less than 1% of americans. and they only get taxed if they don't sign up for health care. it's a minute tax that has no implications -- >> so then if a person -- >> it's not just raising taxes. he's cut taxes on the average american family by $3,600. two tax cuts. in the stimulus, making work pay cut and the payroll deduction tax cut. if you're an average working family that makes $75,000 under barack obama, your federal taxes have gone down $3,600. >> if you can get a job right now. that's the bigger problem. >> that's not the issue. >> and taxes are not what people are principally voting on in the election. taxes, if you go through and ask people what are the most important issues in the economy. it isn't spending. it's jobs and the economy. which romney is not talking
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about. >> when the president came out saying he wants to seek a tax increase on those making 250, 0 $250,0 $250,000. >> that's not a tax increase. it's ending a tax cut. >> everybody, liberals to conservatives and everyone in between says it's a complete political act. the president thinks -- the president's team thinks that's the way to win the election. >> he's trying to extend it for 98% of americans. >> and he just happened to do it right now. >> he's been talking about that for years. >> the point is that it was very political. >> it's time for it to expire. wait a minute. republicans can come to this the table, and everyone agrees, right, that the bush tax cuts for people who make less than $250,000 a year should be extended. they won't because -- >> but didn't the president -- didn't the president and the democrats give the republicans
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what they wanted in the lame duck session of the congress when they hit a two-year extension of the bush tax cut? >> sure. >> so obviously it's going to be another issue. so why not agree on extending it right now. >> shouldn't the president own the tax cuts instead of saying the bush tax cuts are his? >> he's willing to take responsibility for it. because he is willing to go with the majority of americans who want the taxes raised on the top 2%. >> but they always go back to saying it's the bush tax cuts. so he can always go back and blame his predecessors. >> here's the thing. what is the proactive justification giving people who make millions and millions of dollars a year additional tax cuts. why are we spending the trillions of dollars to give tax cuts to 400,000 families? >> by the way, we're talking over $250,000 here in new york that the policemen and the nurse in over time. we're not talking a lot of money
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for those folks. besides, there are other democratic senators that happen to agree the number is too low. but here's the biggest problem. if you went to the wealthiest americans and say i'm going to use your tax dollars for this. not for just throwing it in the general fund, but for specific things, people are more likely to do it. the fact is when you see the stuff that happened -- >> when you see specific things -- >> it's never worked like that. and it's never going to work like that. and let's be clear. the president wants to use that money reduce the deficit. it will reduce the deficit by 863 -- >> he offered big cuts and the republicans walked from it. >> the most important thing to realize, ed, is even on this issue the republicans continue to mislead the american people. first of all, it's not a tax cut on someone who earns $260,000. they don't increase taxes on the $260,000 of income. it's only on the income over 250.
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so that couple who makes $260,000 only pays an increase in taxes on 10,000. >> on 10 grand. >> that's $350 that i guarantee you a family in new york city, like i said, who has limited means because that's all it is -- >> what does the country want, though? the country wants low taxes. the president is trying to deliver it to them. he's also trying to deliver the populous view that the top 2% need to do a little bit more. joy reid, ed rendell, great panel. great to have you with us tonight. thanks so much. coming up, a maryland newspaper says the ed show. is it a great place to reach independent voters, oh, am i going to set them straight after this. stay with us. we know how much you count on your car, and how much the people in your life count on you.
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welcome back to "the ed show." you know the only theory you don't get into an argument with somebody who buys ink by the barrel. maybe "the baltimore sun" does that. they wrote the schultz show isn't a great place to meet the middle of the road or independent voters obama needs in november? really. i respectfully disagree with the sun's assessment. recent poll numbers make the
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case. let's take a look at what americans think is mainstream. 55% of americans support the president's new immigration policy. 62% think the wealthiest americans aren't paying their fair share in taxes. 70% of voters are against cutting social security. 72% are against cutting medicare. 59% are against cutting medicaid. i could take subject after subject and go on. but i'm running out of time here, folks. i don't understand how the sun can make the case that i'm not mainstream. how does the middle of the road america feel when their job is shipped overseas? all the things we talk about on the show. how does the middle of the road american think about when they get sick and can't afford to make their health care bill? helping millions of americans, right? how does the middle of the road or independent voter feel about mitt romney hiding his money offshore to avoid paying taxes?
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i mean, the position that i think, and i know i take on this show are mainstream and populous. but for some reason, the rest of the media sometimes likes to just paint me as a wild eyed lefty. i kind of like that, too. it goes beyond politics on the show. i fight for average americans every day on the program. i try to be a voice for the voiceless and i'll continue to do so. anybody from the baltimore sun want to go face-to-face with me on this program in a respectful way, i would like to do it. coming up, a new report on the disgrace at penn state. shocking details about what coach joe paterno knew and why he protected a pedophile for years. we'll be right back. do you see it ?
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finally tonight one of america's most revered institutions is admitting it didn't do enough to stop a serial child predator. former fbi director released a blistering report on penn state university today. free accused penn state of protecting the image while it allowed an assistant football coach to repeatedly rape young boys. >> our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of sandusky's child victims by the most senior leaders at penn state. the most powerful men at penn
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state failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who sandusky victimized. >> paterno and university administrators first suspected sandusky back in 1998. sandusky was convicted last month of sexually abusing ten boys. penn state says it accepts full responsibility. our hearts remain heavy and we are deeply ashamed. >> i too was horrified when i learned of the sandusky allegations last year. >> we were horrified. we're saddened. we are. >> the trustees all say coach paterno lied to them. but they don't want us to judge joe paterno for his mistakes. espn's matt millan agrees. >> you can't discount all the good that he's done. the biggest thing is to get a little perspective here. he's still a guy. he's still a man. he still has flaws. and this was one of them.
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this decision right here was a coach paterno insisted this is not a football scandal. but the fans might not agree after today. i'm joined by a columnist from "the new york times." a lot to take apart here. how does penn state recover from this? this is an awful night. if you are a penn state fan and a big college football fan, you have to start ask asking yourself the question, what is it that i'm watching? this is a total abuse of power. that's for the institution. not just penn state, but the entire big time college institution where the coach is the most powerful and most well compensated person on campus. this stuff has got to stop. not only do we have to focus on penn state, but joe paterno. what do we need that we're going
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to find out five, ten years from now about the incredible institution of big time ath l athletics. if you listen to the comments, the board of trustees should hand in their collective resignations. they should all resign. because one of the things that the report said is they did not create an environment of accountability. spare me. i don't care about that. everybody's heart is heavy. >> how do they recover? five programs in the history of the ncaa have had the death penalty. in football it was smu for a couple of years. would that help penn state? >> i'm not even concerned about helping penn state. the damage that institution has done and the coverups, i don't care about penn state. web last year when they had an opportunity to not play the last
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game? it was so important. that's the problem. >> they knew how bad it was then and they went on and played the game. warren sapp tweeted they should take down paterno's statue. do you have any thoughts on that? >> again, it's there. i'm looking for moving the forward. that's not going to get us where we need to get. let's put the program on probation. let's give them the death penalty. but this is beyond just nca. this is criminal. this is criminal. >> is it a wakeup call? it should be. should universities around the country with powerful programs put systems in place where they can't be overrun by the man? >> absolutely. but the problem is many institutions are so beholden they're at a catch-22. but you're right, it is a wake-up call. >> living in new york now i got to pick between the jets and the
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giants. i know you cover them both. >> is there a choice? >> i have to have you back. we have to talk about it. we're getting real close to training camp. thanks so much from "the new york times." that . >> ed, you are free to root for the patriots. >> oh, gosh. well, i'll tell you what, i'm getting my viking contingency fired up soon here. we did learn on the offseason how to put the uniforms on. we should be better this year. thank you, ed. and thank you at home for staying with us for the next hour. the first time that mitt romney ran for office was in 1994. he ran for the u.s. senate from massachusetts. >> i believe that abortion should be safe and legal in the country. i have since the time my mom took the position when she ran in 1970 as a u.s. senate candidate. i believe since roe v. wade has been the law for 20 years we
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should sustain and support it. i was an independent during the time of reagan-bush. i'm not trying to return to reagan-bush. i want universal coverage. i want everyone in massachusetts and this country to have insurance. >> despite trying his best to run to the center, to appear to be a moderate, mr. romney even promised he was to the left of his opponent ted kennedy on the issue of gay rights in that election. despite that herculean ideological stretching, mr. romney lost the race badly to senator kennedy. it was not the culture war issues, the social issues that are credited with having made the difference in that election. the race didn't end up being much about health insurance or even whether or not plomds or ted kennedy were liberal or conservatives on abortion rights or gay rights or gun rights or anything like tla. observers of the race say mitt romney lost that badly. look at that. he lost by 17 points to ted